Decoupage with real leaves: ideas for the autumn DIY

Using the leaves you can make many decorations, let's discover together how to make the decoupage with real leaves: a wonderful DIY idea for the autumn

How to make the decoupage with real leaves 

In the autumn the nature is lit with a thousand shades: the summer green leaves progressively placed to the warm colors of yellow and red, which herald the arrival of winter cold, but at the same time they give what for many is the most evocative of all seasons.

To bring home some of the magic of autumn, the decoupage with real leaves is the ideal technique; first of all because it offers the opportunity to wear comfortable boots and spend a half day walking through the woods and secondly because it is a simple decorative technique, within everyone's reach, to be experimented, why not, even with the help of children, but with truly surprising results.

Here is how to do it: once you have collected a good quantity of leaves, possibly of different sizes and colors, these will be cleaned of any residual earth and pressed.

For this purpose it is advisable to lay them gently between two sheets of newspaper and leave them for at least 48 hours under a weight (if you do not own a real press, use books or old telephone directories). However, we should avoid using particularly stiff or fleshy, old, damaged or visibly diseased leaves.

While waiting for the leaves to be ready, we decide which object to decorate. The decoupage technique with real leaves is well suited to various surfaces, from cardboard boxes to notebooks, photo albums, wooden objects, and so on. For an even more striking effect, however, the ideal support is glass.

So go free to dishes, bottles, trays, but above all to glasses and jars, which in a second time it will be possible to use candle holders. Accomplice the play of transparencies of the decoupage, the flame will maximize the colors of the leaves, projecting all around soft shadows and returning in an instant that warm and suggestive atmosphere typical of the autumn season.

How to glue the dried leaves

Once the leaves are ready and the arrangement that you want to give them is established, proceed with the brush applying a first layer of vinyl glue on the glass. One by one, we make the leaves adhere to the surface of the jar and proceed with a second coat of glue, taking care to review all the leaves well. So that our decoration is not too fragile, at this point we can overlap a sheet of rice paper (or tissue paper) that we have previously cut to size. Conclude then with a last layer of glue. To give greater protection, once dried, it is finally possible to finish the work by applying a coat of protective transparent varnish or, even better, a vitrifying water-based varnish.

Decorations with dry leaves

The dried leaves can be used for different decorations, not just for decoupage. For example, you can make beautiful bouquets, ideal for decorating the table or other rooms of the house in the fall. Also in this case it is simple chores, the important thing is to choose the leaves carefully and clean them well without damaging them. If the leaves are very colored, for example they are beautiful yellow or bright red, the bouquet can only be composed of these; if, on the other hand, the leaves are brown, a small bunch of colored flowers can be placed in the center of the bouquet to brighten up the whole.

To create skeletal leaves we can use leaves just fallen from the tree, but not dry. To get the right effect you need to put in the boiling water with a little 'bicarbonate the leaves that we have chosen, better to opt for the most colorful, and let simmer for about an hour and three quarters. The leaves must substantially lose part of their color, but above all they must soften. Once you get out of the water you have to remove the turgid part of the leaf with a brush. Then put the leaves to dry on a cloth and lay another one on top.